Concentrator for multiplexing access point to wireless network connections

ABSTRACT

Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate multiplexing communications from multiple downstream access points to one or more mobility management entities (MME). In particular, a concentrator component is provided that can establish a single transport layer connection with an MME along with multiple application layer connections over the single transport layer connection for each of multiple downstream access points and/or related mobile devices. The downstream access points and/or mobile devices can provide identifiers to the concentrator component, which can utilize the identifiers to track communications with the MME. In this regard, the MME can additionally include identifiers received from the concentrator component in subsequent communications to facilitate identifying the appropriate downstream access point and/or mobile device.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY UNDER 35 U.S.C. §119

The present Application for Patent claims priority to ProvisionalApplication No. 61/074,978 entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO REDUCEASSOCIATIONS AND/OR PORTS REQUIRED AT A MOBILITY MANAGEMENT ENTITY (MME)TO SUPPORT A NUMBER OF eNBs/HeNBs IN WIRELESS NETWORKS” filed Jun. 23,2008, and assigned to the assignee hereof and hereby expresslyincorporated by reference herein, Provisional Application No. 61/079,393entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO REDUCE ASSOCIATIONS/PORTS AND MULTIPLEXCONNECTIONS BETWEEN eNBs/HeNBs/RELAYS IN WIRELESS SYSTEMS” filed Jul. 9,2008, and assigned to the assignee hereof and hereby expresslyincorporated by reference herein, and Provisional Application No.61/087,145 entitled “CONCENTRATOR/DISTRIBUTOR FOR A CONTROL PLANE TOHOME BASE STATIONS” filed Aug. 7, 2008, and assigned to the assigneehereof and hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is related to concurrently filed and commonly ownedU.S. patent application Ser. No. ______ entitled “CONCENTRATOR FORMULTIPLEXING ACCESS POINT TO WIRELESS NETWORK CONNECTIONS,” and assignedAttorney Docket No. 081892U2; and U.S. patent application Ser. No.______, entitled “CONCENTRATOR FOR MULTIPLEXING ACCESS POINT TO WIRELESSNETWORK CONNECTIONS,” and assigned Attorney Docket No. 081892U3; thedisclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The following description relates generally to wireless communications,and more particularly to control plane communications with upstreamnetwork components and between access points.

2. Background

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide varioustypes of communication content such as, for example, voice, data, and soon. Typical wireless communication systems may be multiple-accesssystems capable of supporting communication with multiple users bysharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, . .. ). Examples of such multiple-access systems may include code divisionmultiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA)systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonalfrequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, and the like.Additionally, the systems can conform to specifications such as thirdgeneration partnership project (3GPP), 3GPP long term evolution (LTE),ultra mobile broadband (UMB), and/or multi-carrier wirelessspecifications such as evolution data optimized (EV-DO), one or morerevisions thereof, etc.

Generally, wireless multiple-access communication systems maysimultaneously support communication for multiple mobile devices. Eachmobile device may communicate with one or more access points (e.g., basestations) via transmissions on forward and reverse links. The forwardlink (or downlink) refers to the communication link from access pointsto mobile devices, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to thecommunication link from mobile devices to access points. Further,communications between mobile devices and access points may beestablished via single-input single-output (SISO) systems,multiple-input single-output (MISO) systems, multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO) systems, and so forth. In addition, mobiledevices can communicate with other mobile devices in peer-to-peerwireless network configurations.

Access points can communicate with additional upstream wireless networkcomponents to facilitate providing wireless network access to the mobiledevices. In some configurations, the access points can establishconnection with a mobility management entity (MME) to provide sessionand mobility management in the wireless network. MMEs can furthercommunicate with additional upstream network components toauthenticate/authorize the mobile devices to communicate over thenetwork and/or to facilitate transmitting/receiving data over thenetwork.

Small scale access points, such as femtocell access points, picocellaccess points, relay nodes, etc., have been introduced to conventionalwireless networks allowing heterogeneous unregulated deployment of newaccess points. These small scale access points similarly establishconnection with MMEs to provide session and mobility management in thewireless networks. MMEs, however, can be limited in the number ofsupportable connections, both at the transport and application layers.Similarly, some access points can support other small scale accesspoints, providing MME access thereto, and similarly can have limits onthe number of concurrently supportable connections especially, forexample, where the supporting access point is a picocell or femtocellaccess point.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects inorder to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary isnot an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intendedto neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nordelineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is topresent some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as aprelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

In accordance with one or more aspects and corresponding disclosurethereof, various aspects are described in connection with facilitatingmultiplexing access point connections to mobility management entities(MME) or other access points using a concentrator component. Theconcentrator component can connect to downstream access points and oneor more MMEs or upstream access points. In this regard, the concentratorcomponent can support many downstream access point connections via asingle MME or upstream access point connection. In one example, theconcentrator component can associate the downstream access points to theMME or upstream access point (or a plurality of such) and forward datareceived from the downstream access points to the MME(s) or upstreamaccess points.

In another example, for mobile device specific communications, theconcentrator component can, for example, create an identifier for themobile device that is locally unique within itself (e.g., bases on itsown identifier and an identifier of the associated downstream accesspoint). The concentrator component can replace the mobile deviceidentifier in related packets with the new identifier before forwardingthe packets to the MME or upstream access point. Thus, when a responseis received by the concentrator component from the MME or upstreamaccess point, the concentrator component can determine the appropriatedownstream access point from the identifier, replace the identifier inthe response with the mobile device identifier originally received, andforward the response to the downstream access point for propagating tothe appropriate mobile device. In yet another example, the concentratorcomponent can associate downstream access points with a tracking area,which can be a grouping of access points in proximity of one another. Inthis regard, the concentrator component can broadcast communicationsreceived from the MME to the tracking area to mitigate maintainingcomplex routing at the MME.

According to related aspects, a method is provided that includesreceiving a downlink packet from a MME and determining an access pointrelated to the downlink packet based at least in part on a locallyunique identifier comprised within the downlink packet. The method alsoincludes transmitting the downlink packet to the access point.

Another aspect relates to a wireless communications apparatus. Thewireless communications apparatus can include at least one processorconfigured to obtain a downlink packet from a MME and discern at leastone access point related to the downlink packet based at least in parton a locally unique identifier comprised within the downlink packet. Theat least one processor is further configured to transmit the downlinkpacket to the at least one access point. The wireless communicationsapparatus also comprises a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

Yet another aspect relates to an apparatus that includes means forreceiving a downlink packet from a MME and means for determining anaccess point related to the downlink packet based at least in part on alocally unique identifier comprised within the downlink packet. Theapparatus further includes means for transmitting the downlink packet tothe access point.

Still another aspect relates to a computer program product, which canhave a computer-readable medium including code for causing at least onecomputer to receive a downlink packet from a MME. The computer-readablemedium can also comprise code for causing the at least one computer todetermine an access point related to the downlink packet based at leastin part on a locally unique identifier comprised within the downlinkpacket. Moreover, the computer-readable medium can comprise code forcausing the at least one computer to transmit the downlink packet to theaccess point.

Moreover, an additional aspect relates to an apparatus. The apparatuscan include an upstream connection component that receives a downlinkpacket from a MME. The apparatus further includes an access pointrouting component that determines an access point related to thedownlink packet based at least in part on a locally unique identifiercomprised within the downlink packet and a downstream connectioncomponent that transmits the downlink packet to the access point.

According to other aspects, a method is provided that includes receivinga unique identifier in an uplink message related to an access point. Themethod additionally includes inserting the unique identifier in anapplication layer downlink message to facilitate determining the accesspoint related to the uplink message and transmitting the applicationlayer downlink message to a network component.

Another aspect relates to a wireless communications apparatus. Thewireless communications apparatus can include at least one processorconfigured to retrieve a unique identifier in an uplink message relatedto an access point and insert the unique identifier in an applicationlayer downlink message to facilitate determining the access pointrelated to the uplink message. The at least one processor is furtherconfigured to transmit the application layer downlink message to anetwork component. The wireless communications apparatus also comprisesa memory coupled to the at least one processor.

Yet another aspect relates to an apparatus that includes means forreceiving a unique identifier in an uplink message related to an accesspoint and means for inserting the unique identifier in an applicationlayer downlink message to facilitate determining the access pointrelated to the uplink message and transmitting the application layerdownlink message to a network component.

Still another aspect relates to a computer program product, which canhave a computer-readable medium including code for causing at least onecomputer to receive a unique identifier in an uplink message related toan access point. The computer-readable medium can also comprise code forcausing the at least one computer to insert the unique identifier in anapplication layer downlink message to facilitate determining the accesspoint related to the uplink message. Moreover, the computer-readablemedium can comprise code for causing the at least one computer totransmit the application layer downlink message to a network component.

Moreover, an additional aspect relates to an apparatus. The apparatuscan include an access point identifier component that receives a uniqueidentifier in an uplink message related to an access point. Theapparatus further includes a downlink transmitting component thatinserts the unique identifier in an application layer downlink messageto facilitate determining the access point related to the uplink messageand transmits the application layer downlink message to a networkcomponent.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or moreaspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims. The following description andthe annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative featuresof the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, ofbut a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspectsmay be employed and this description is intended to include all suchaspects and their equivalents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an example wireless communications systemthat facilitates multiplexing wireless network communications.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an example wireless communications systemthat facilitates multiple access point communication with an upstreamnetwork component.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of an example wireless communications systemthat facilitates identifying access points related to communicating withan upstream network component.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of an example wireless communications systemthat facilitates providing identification of an access point.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of an example wireless network for providingmultiplexed access point communication with a mobility management entity(MME).

FIG. 6 is an illustration of an example wireless network for providingmultiplexed access point communication with an upstream access point.

FIG. 7 is an illustration of an example methodology that transmitspackets to an access point based on an identifier in the packets.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of an example methodology that replacesidentifiers in packets with mobile device identifiers and forwards thepackets to related access points.

FIG. 9 is an illustration of an example methodology that transmitsuplink packets to corresponding upstream network components.

FIG. 10 is an illustration of an example methodology that replacesidentifiers in packets with mobile device identifiers and forwards thepackets to corresponding upstream network components.

FIG. 11 is an illustration of an example methodology that implementspaging in a multiplexing environment for access point communication.

FIG. 12 is an illustration of an example methodology that receives andinserts identifiers related to access points in communicating with aconcentrator component.

FIG. 13 is an illustration of an example methodology that communicatesunique identifiers in messages to upstream network components.

FIG. 14 is an illustration of a wireless communication system inaccordance with various aspects set forth herein.

FIG. 15 is an illustration of a wireless communication network inaccordance with aspects described herein.

FIG. 16 is an illustration of an example wireless network environmentthat can be employed in conjunction with the various systems and methodsdescribed herein.

FIG. 17 is an illustration of an example system that facilitatesmultiplexing access point communication with an MME.

FIG. 18 is an illustration of an example system that facilitatesmultiplexing access point communication with an upstream access point.

FIG. 19 is an illustration of an example system that provides pagingfunctionality in multiplexed access point communication.

FIG. 20 is an illustration of an example system that receives andutilizes access point identifiers in communicating with related accesspoints.

FIG. 21 is an illustration of an example system that providesidentifiers in messages to upstream network components.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various aspects are now described with reference to the drawings. In thefollowing description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specificdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding ofone or more aspects. It may be evident, however, that such aspect(s) maybe practiced without these specific details.

As used in this application, the terms “component,” “module,” “system”and the like are intended to include a computer-related entity, such asbut not limited to hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware andsoftware, software, or software in execution. For example, a componentmay be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, aprocessor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program,and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application runningon a computing device and the computing device can be a component. Oneor more components can reside within a process and/or thread ofexecution and a component may be localized on one computer and/ordistributed between two or more computers. In addition, these componentscan execute from various computer readable media having various datastructures stored thereon. The components may communicate by way oflocal and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal havingone or more data packets, such as data from one component interactingwith another component in a local system, distributed system, and/oracross a network such as the Internet with other systems by way of thesignal.

Furthermore, various aspects are described herein in connection with aterminal, which can be a wired terminal or a wireless terminal. Aterminal can also be called a system, device, subscriber unit,subscriber station, mobile station, mobile, mobile device, remotestation, remote terminal, access terminal, user terminal, terminal,communication device, user agent, user device, or user equipment (UE). Awireless terminal may be a cellular telephone, a satellite phone, acordless telephone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, awireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), ahandheld device having wireless connection capability, a computingdevice, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem.Moreover, various aspects are described herein in connection with a basestation. A base station may be utilized for communicating with wirelessterminal(s) and may also be referred to as an access point, a Node B, orsome other terminology.

Moreover, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” ratherthan an exclusive “or.” That is, unless specified otherwise, or clearfrom the context, the phrase “X employs A or B” is intended to mean anyof the natural inclusive permutations. That is, the phrase “X employs Aor B” is satisfied by any of the following instances: X employs A; Xemploys B; or X employs both A and B. In addition, the articles “a” and“an” as used in this application and the appended claims shouldgenerally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwiseor clear from the context to be directed to a singular form.

The techniques described herein may be used for various wirelesscommunication systems such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA and othersystems. The terms “system” and “network” are often usedinterchangeably. A CDMA system may implement a radio technology such asUniversal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includesWideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) and other variants of CDMA. Further, cdma2000covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. A TDMA system may implementa radio technology such as Global System for Mobile Communications(GSM). An OFDMA system may implement a radio technology such as EvolvedUTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDM , etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are partof Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). 3GPP Long TermEvolution (LTE) is a release of UMTS that uses E-UTRA, which employsOFDMA on the downlink and SC-FDMA on the uplink. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTEand GSM are described in documents from an organization named “3rdGeneration Partnership Project” (3GPP). Additionally, cdma2000 and UMBare described in documents from an organization named “3rd GenerationPartnership Project 2” (3GPP2). Further, such wireless communicationsystems may additionally include peer-to-peer (e.g., mobile-to-mobile)ad hoc network systems often using unpaired unlicensed spectrums, 802.xxwireless LAN, BLUETOOTH and any other short- or long-range, wirelesscommunication techniques.

Various aspects or features will be presented in terms of systems thatmay include a number of devices, components, modules, and the like. Itis to be understood and appreciated that the various systems may includeadditional devices, components, modules, etc. and/or may not include allof the devices, components, modules etc. discussed in connection withthe figures. A combination of these approaches may also be used.

Referring to FIG. 1, a wireless communication system 100 is illustratedthat facilitates multiplexing multiple access point connections to asingle mobility management entity (MME) or upstream access pointconnection. A concentrator component 102 is provided that connects to anMME or access point 104 as well as various downstream access points 106,108, and 110 to facilitate communicating therebetween. The MME or accesspoint 104 can be an MME or an access point that communicates with anMME. In addition, though not shown, the concentrator component 102 canconnect to multiple MMEs or upstream access points allowing the accesspoints 106, 108, and 110 (or other downstream access points) tocommunicate with one or more MMEs or upstream access points. Inaddition, as described further herein, the concentrator component 102can be transparent to the MME or access point 104 as well as the accesspoints 106, 108, and 110.

According to an example, the concentrator component 102 can establish atransport layer connection (e.g., stream control transmission protocol(SCTP)) along with multiple related application later connections (e.g.S1 application protocol (S1-AP, X2, etc.)) for each access point 106,108, and 110 with the MME or access point 104. In addition, the accesspoints 106, 108, and 110 can each establish a transport layer connectionand corresponding application layer connections with the concentratorcomponent 102. The concentrator component 102 can receive packets fromthe access points 106, 108, and 110, over the transport and applicationlayer and forward the packets to the MME or access point 104, along withan access point 106, 108, or 110 identifier, over a correspondingapplication layer connection established over the single transport layerconnection. In addition, the MME or access point 104 can indicate accesspoint identifiers in packets transmitted to the concentrator component102, and the concentrator component can forward the packets to theappropriate access point 106, 108 or 110.

In another example, the concentrator component 102 can communicate withmultiple upstream MMEs or access points (e.g., MME or access point 104and others). In this example, the concentrator component 102 canmaintain routing information, such as a routing table, related to theaccess points 106, 108, 110, and the multiple upstream MMEs or accesspoints. Moreover, in this example, the access points 106, 108, and 110can connect to multiple MMEs, and the concentrator component 102 canmaintain routing information for each MME and forward packets from theaccess points 106, 108, or 110, using the routing information, to theappropriate MME.

In addition, the concentrator component 102 can act as an MME in somecases handling access point to access point communications, such ashandover commands, reset message, and/or the like. For example, ahandover command can be received related to access points 106 and 108.Where the access points 106 and 108 are associated with the sameupstream MME or access point (e.g., MME or access point 104), theupstream MME or access point need not be notified of the handover, insome cases. In this example, the concentrator component 102 canfacilitate the handover from access point 106 to access point 108 (orvice versa), as indicated in the handover command. In another example,however, the concentrator component 102 can swap the access pointidentifiers in the handover command with its own identifier establishedwith the MME or access point 104 forcing the MME or access point 104 toact as if an access point is handing over to itself. Where, however, theaccess points involved in the handover command communicate withdisparate MMEs, the concentrator component 102 can forward the commandto the upstream MME or access point related to appropriate access pointsto facilitate the handover.

Similarly, the concentrator component 102 can act as an MME in handlingreset messages sent from the access points 106, 108, or 110. In thisexample, the concentrator component 102 can transmit the reset messageto the MME or access point 104 serving the access point 106, 108, or110, as well as to substantially all access points being served by theMME or access point 104. In addition or alternatively, the concentratorcomponent 102 can transmit the reset message to substantially all mobiledevices served by the access point 106, 108, or 110 being reset, asdescribed further herein. Moreover, the concentrator component 102 cantransmit the reset message to the MME or access point 104, separatelyfor all mobile devices served by one or more of access points 106, 108,or 110 being reset, as described further herein.

In addition or alternatively, in an example, the concentrator component102 can establish an application layer connection with the MME or accesspoint 104 per mobile device (not shown) connected with a given accesspoint 106, 108, or 110. In this example, the concentrator component 102can receive uplink packets from an access point 106, 108, or 110 relatedto a connected mobile device, and can generate an identifier for themobile device that is unique within the concentrator component 102. Forexample, the identifier can include an identifier of the mobile devicedetermined from the packet (e.g., or a previous registration) along withthe identifier of the associated access point 106, 108, or 110. Theconcentrator component 102 can replace the mobile device identifier inreceived packets with the locally unique identifier and transmit thepackets to the MME or access point 104.

Downlink packets received from the MME or access point 104 can includethe unique identifier used in the uplink packets allowing theconcentrator component 102 to identify the associated mobile device andserving access point. In one example, the concentrator component 102 candetermine the access point serving the mobile device according to stateinformation stored relating to the unique identifier. In anotherexample, the concentrator component 102 can determine the serving accesspoint based on information stored in or indicated by the uniqueidentifier. In either case, the concentrator component can replace theunique identifier in the downlink packet with the mobile deviceidentifier previously received from the serving access point and canforward the packet to the serving access point for propagation to theappropriate mobile device. In another example, the concentratorcomponent 102 can determine serving access point information in thedownlink packet and forward the packet to the serving access pointwithout replacing/changing identifiers in the packet for the propagationto appropriate mobile device.

In addition, the concentrator component 102 can implement paging fortracking areas specified by the access points 106, 108, and 110. Forexample, the access points 106, 108, and 110 can indicate tracking areaswhen establishing connection with the concentrator component 102 (and/orthe concentrator component 102 can otherwise receive or determinerelated tracking areas). Where the concentrator component 102 encountersa new tracking area from a connecting access point, it can forwardtracking area information to the MME or access point 104 in aconfiguration update message. The MME or access point 104 can utilizepaging by transmitting pages to the concentrator component 102comprising the tracking identifier. The concentrator component 102 cansubsequently transmit the page to substantially all access pointsassociated with the tracking area, allowing the access points to pageappropriate mobile devices identified in the page, in one example.

Turning now to FIG. 2, an example wireless communication system 200 thatfacilitates maintaining multiple access point connections to a given MMEor upstream access point is illustrated. A concentrator component 102 isprovided that, as described, can connect to multiple access points 106,108, and 110 facilitating communication with one or more MMEs 202 orupstream access points 204. The upstream access points 204 can connectto the MME 202 or other upstream network components, for example,facilitating communication therewith for the access points 106, 108, and110 via the concentrator component 102. In addition, mobile devices 206and 208 can communicate with the access point 106 to receive wirelessnetwork access. It is to be appreciated that more mobile devices can socommunicate with access point 106 and/or one or more of the upstreamaccess points 108 or 110, for example.

The concentrator component 102 can include an upstream connectioncomponent 210 that manages one or more transport layer connections and aplurality of application layer connections with an MME or upstreamaccess point, a downstream connection component 212 that managestransport and application layer connections with a plurality of accesspoints, an access point routing component 214 that maintains stateinformation for a plurality of access points associated with the MME orother upstream access point, a mobile device routing component 216 thatmaintains state information for a plurality of mobile devices connectedto one or more of the plurality of access points, an inter-access pointmessage component 218 that can handle message or packets transmittedbetween access points connected to the concentrator component 102, and apaging component 220 that sends pages for mobile devices to servingaccess points based on a related tracking area.

According to an example, the upstream connection component 210 canestablish a connection with the MME 202 and/or access point 204. Forexample, the upstream connection component 210, in one example, canestablish a SCTP association with the MME and/or access point 204allowing a number of application layer (e.g., S1-AP, X2, etc.)connections or streams. During connection establishment, for example,the upstream connection component 210 can receive a unique identifier ofthe MME 202 (e.g., global unique MME identifier (GUMMEI)) or accesspoint 204 (e.g., eNB global identifier (EGI)) for subsequent use inidentifying packets sent therefrom. It is to be appreciated that usingsuch identifiers can be useful when the upstream connection component210 maintains multiple upstream connections to various MMEs or accesspoints.

In addition, for example, the downstream connection component 212 canestablish connections with the access points 106, 108, and 110 uponreceiving a corresponding request for access to the concentratorcomponent 102 or to the MME 202 or upstream access point 204 (e.g. theconcentrator component 102 can be transparent to the access points, asdescribed). For example, the access points 106, 108, and 110 can setupan SCTP association with the downstream connection component 212, forwhich the concentrator component 102 takes no action regarding the MME202 or upstream access point 204. The downstream connection component212, in one example, can transmit an identifier of the MME 202 (e.g.,GUMMEI) or upstream access point 204 (e.g., EGI) to the access points106, 108, and 110 as if the access points had setup connection directlywith the MME 202 or upstream access point 204. Subsequently, the accesspoints 106, 108, and 110 can send an application layer initializationmessage (e.g., S1-AP or X2 message), received by the downstreamconnection component 212, to facilitate establishing connection with theconcentrator component 102. The upstream connection component 210 canforward the S1-AP/X2 message to the MME 202 and/or upstream accesspoint; in one example, this can be based on information in the message,such as an MME or upstream access point identified in the message. TheMME 202 or upstream access point 204 can set up the application layerconnection over the SCTP connection with the upstream connectioncomponent 210. Thus, for example, if connection between the accesspoints 106, 108, or 110 and downstream connection component 212 fails(e.g., at an application or transport layer), the downstream connectioncomponent 212 can close the related application layer connection to theMME 202 or upstream access point 204.

Moreover, as described, the concentrator component 102 can connect tomultiple MMEs or upstream access points. In this example, theconcentrator component 102 can expose access to the various MMEs orupstream access points allowing downstream access points, such as accesspoints 106, 108, and 110 to select a desired MME or upstream accesspoint. Information regarding selected MMEs or upstream access points canbe stored in a routing table in the access point routing component 214,for example. In addition, one or more of the downstream access pointscan connect to multiple MMEs or upstream access points, in which casethe downstream access point can negotiate a connection through theconcentrator component 102 using a different IP or other address foreach connection. The access point routing component 214 can store themultiple associations, as described further below, based on the IP orother address and other information.

In addition, the access point routing component 214 can store anassociation between the access point 106, 108, or 110, and theappropriate MME or access point, such as MME 202 or access point 204.The association can be stored, for example, with a GUMMEI of the MME 202or EGI of the upstream access point 204 received by the upstreamconnection component 210 (and/or indicated in the access pointinitialization request) and an identifier related to the appropriateaccess point 106, 108, or 110, which can be received by the downstreamconnection component 212 in the transport layer and/or application layersetup request. This can be an EGI, as described, which locallyidentifies the access point 106, 108, or 110. In addition, the accesspoint routing component 214 can associate the access point identifierwith an IP address of the access point. In one example, the downstreamconnection component 212 can receive packets from the access points 106,108, and 110, which include the identifier of the access point in eachpacket for example, and the access point routing component 214 candetermine a destination MME or upstream access point based oninformation in the packet and/or based on an association between theaccess point identifier or IP address and MME identifier stored in theaccess point routing component 214. In either case, the access pointrouting component 214 can forward the packet to the upstream connectioncomponent 210 for propagating to the appropriate MME or upstream accesspoint, for example.

Upon receiving packets from the MME 202 or access point 204, theupstream connection component 210 can query the access point routingcomponent 214 to determine one or more appropriate access points toreceive the packets. In one example, the upstream connection component210 can obtain the MME or upstream access point identifier related tothe packet and/or an access point identifier related to the downstreamaccess point (such as the EGI, as described above) that locallyidentifies the access point to receive the packets. In one example, thedownstream access point identifier can be determined based on anotheridentifier in the downlink packet as received by the MME 202 or accesspoint 204 and an entry in a routing table of the access point routingcomponent 214 that associates the other identifier to the access pointidentifier received during setup. The downstream connection component212 can forward the packets to the appropriate access point based on theidentifier. Where the downstream access point is associated to aplurality of MMEs or upstream access points, the downstream connectioncomponent 212 can further forward the packets to the downstream accesspoint based on the MME or upstream access point identifier. Thus, forexample, the downstream access point, such as access points 106, 108, or110, can initialize multiple transport and/or application layerconnections with the downstream connection component 212—one or more foreach MME or upstream access point connection. In this regard, accesspoint routing component 214 can determine over which connection toforward the packets to the downstream access point based on the MME orupstream access point identifier and the downstream access pointidentifier.

In another example, access point 106 can provide network access tomobile devices 206 and 208. In this regard, the downstream connectioncomponent 212 can receive mobile device specific packets from accesspoint 106. Upon receiving an initial packet, the upstream connectioncomponent 210 can establish an application layer connection over thetransport layer connection with the MME 202 or upstream access point 204for the mobile device 206 or 208. In addition, mobile device routingcomponent 216 can extract an identifier related to the mobile device 206or 208 and/or an identifier related to the access point 106. In anexample, the mobile device identifier can be assigned by the accesspoint 106, specified in an uplink packet from the mobile device 206 or208, and/or the like. The mobile device routing component 216 cangenerate a unique identifier related to the identifier of the accesspoint 106 and mobile device 206 or 208—indeed, the unique identifier cancomprise both identifiers—and replace the identifier in the receivedpacket with the unique identifier. Subsequently, the upstream connectioncomponent 210 can communicate the packet to an appropriate MME 202 orupstream access point 204 using the created application layerconnection. Similarly, the desired MME or upstream access point can beindicated in the packet from the access point 106, in one example,and/or the upstream connection component 210 can communicate the packetto an MME or upstream access point previously associated with the accesspoint 106.

In addition, the upstream connection component 210 can receive downlinkpackets from the MME 202 or upstream access point 204 relating to themobile devices 206 and 208, or other mobile devices. The mobile devicerouting component 216 can determine an access point and connected mobiledevice to which the downlink packets relate based on the unique mobiledevice identifier in the packet. For example, where stored as anassociation (e.g., added or inserting into a routing table), the mobiledevice routing component 216 can match the unique identifier to a mobiledevice identifier, such as for mobile device 206 or 208, and associatedaccess point identifier, such as for access point 106. In anotherexample, where the unique identifier is composed of the mobile deviceand access point identifiers, the mobile device routing component 216can discern the identifiers from the unique identifier. In either case,the mobile device routing component 216 can additionally replace theunique identifier in the packet with the determined mobile deviceidentifier, and the downstream connection component 212 can forward thepacket to the appropriate access point based on the access pointidentifier.

In yet another example, the inter-access point message component 218 canperform similar functions as an MME in communicating messages amongaccess points served by the concentrator component 102. For example,where two access points, such as access point 106 and 108, areassociated with the same MME 202 or upstream access point 204, theinter-access point message component 218 can facilitate communicationsbetween the access points 106 and 108. In one example, access point 106can transmit a handover or cell reselection command, which is receivedby the downstream connection component 212, to facilitate handing overcommunication from mobile device 206. The downstream connectioncomponent 212 can detect the handover command and determine the sourceaccess point 106 and target access point 108. If the access points 106and 108 are associated with the same MME or upstream access point, whichcan be determined from the access point routing component 214, asdescribed, the inter-access point message component 218 can forward thehandover command to the access point 108 via downstream connectioncomponent 212. Thus, the MME or upstream access point need not beinvolved in the handover; however, it is to be appreciated that theconcentrator component 102 can notify the MME or upstream access point(e.g., MME 202 or access point 204) of the handover, in an example.

In another example, however, the inter-access point message componentcan replace the source and target access point identifiers in thehandover command with the identifier of the concentrator component 102and forward the command to the appropriate MME or upstream access point.In this regard, the MME (e.g., MME 202) or upstream access point (e.g.,access point 204) can treat the concentrator component 102 as if handingover to itself, causing the concentrator component 102 to forwardhandover information from/to the appropriate access points 106 and 108.In another example, the inter-access point message component 218 canappropriately handle reset messages received from the access points 106,108, or 110 via the downstream connection component 212. For example,the downstream connection component 212 can receive a reset command fromthe access point 106, and the inter-access point message component 218,in one example, can forward the message to related MMEs and/or upstreamaccess points, as indicated by the access point routing component 214,utilizing the upstream connection component 210. In addition, theinter-access point message component 218 can relay the reset message tosubstantially all access points associated with the same MME or upstreamaccess point, as determined by the access point routing component 214.Moreover, the downstream connection component 212, in one example, cansend related reset messages to mobile devices served by the accesspoint, as indicated in the mobile device routing component 216.Alternatively, for example, the downstream connection component 212 canreceive a reset command from the access point 106, and the mobile devicerouting component 216, in one example, can send reset message for eachUE served by the access point 106 to the related MMEs 202 and/orupstream access points 204.

It is to be appreciated that the MME 202 or upstream access point 204can also transmit a reset message, which can be received by the upstreamconnection component 210. Accordingly, the access point routingcomponent 214 can notify associated access points by transmitting areset message using downstream connection component 212, for example. Inyet another example, the paging component 220 can transmit pagingmessages, related to served mobile devices, to the access points 106,108, or 110 based on a tracking area associated therewith. In thisexample, when establishing connection with the concentrator component102, access points 106, 108, and 110 can transmit tracking areainformation in connection establishment requests. The paging component220 can store the tracking area information associated with the accesspoints 106, 108, and 110. If a new tracking area is defined (e.g. onethat is not stored with the information in the paging component 220),the paging component 220 can send a configuration update message toassociated MMEs, such as MME 202, or upstream access points, such asaccess point 204. In this regard, the MME 202 and/or upstream accesspoint 204 can send paging messages to substantially all mobile devicesin a tracking area by transmitting the message to the upstreamconnection component 210. The paging component 220 can forward themessage to access points based on the tracking area identified in themessage, and access points related to the tracking area, as stored inthe paging component 220, for example. It is to be appreciated that thepaging component 220 can additionally or alternatively implement astateless design as well where it forwards paging messages received tosubstantially all access points connected to the concentrator component102, and the access points can determine whether the message appliesbased on a tracking identifier store in the message.

Turning to FIG. 3, an example wireless communication system 300 thatfacilitates providing multiple access points with MME or upstream accesspoint communication over single transport layer connection is depicted.A concentrator component 102 is provided that establishes a transportlayer connection to an MME or access point 104 to facilitatecommunicating therewith, and establishes transport and application layerconnections with a plurality of access points 106, 108, and 110. Theconcentrator component 102, as described, establishes application layerconnections with the MME or upstream access point 104 for the accesspoints 106, 108, and 110 to facilitate wireless network access. Inaddition, the concentrator component 102 can support multiple MMEs orupstream access points, as described. The access point 106 can establisha connection to the concentrator component 102 and provide an identifierfor use in subsequent communication with the MME or access point 104, asdescribed.

The MME or access point 104 can comprise an uplink receiving component302 that can obtain requests from the concentrator component 102 (e.g.,on behalf of an access point 106, 108, or 110, and/or a mobile devicecommunicating therewith), an access point identifier component 304 thatcan determine an identifier associated with uplink packets from theconcentrator component 102, a core network communication component 306that can transmit and receive data to/from a core wireless network, anda downlink transmitting component 308 that can communicate with data tothe concentrator component 102 for transmittal to one or more accesspoints.

According to an example, the concentrator component 102 can setup aconnection to the MME or access point 104, receiving an identifierassociated therewith in one example. One or more of the access points106, 108, and 110 can establish connection with the concentratorcomponent 102 to ultimately receive access to the MME or access point104, as described, and the concentrator component 102 can setup anapplication layer connection with the MME or access point 104 for theaccess points 106, 108, and 110. Subsequently, the access points 106,108, and 110 can transmit packets to the concentrator component 102comprising an identifier specified in the setup. As described, this canbe an access point identifier (e.g., EGI), part of an identifier of aserved mobile device, and/or the like. In addition, as described in oneexample, the concentrator component 102 can, in one example, replace theidentifier with an identifier unique within the concentrator component102, such as an association of the access point identifier to the mobiledevice identifier where both are present.

In any case, the concentrator component 102 can send the uplink packetto the MME or access point 104, and the uplink receiving component 302can obtain the uplink packet. The access point identifier component 304can, for example, determine the identifier associated with the packet,and the core network communication component 306 can transmit therequest to a core wireless network (not shown). It is to be appreciatedthat the identifier can be included in the request or otherwiseassociated so that the core network communication component 306 canassociate response packets with the identifier. It is to be additionallyappreciated that no request is required for receiving packets at thecore network communication component 306 (e.g., from the core wirelessnetwork) for transmitting to one or more access points 106, 108, or 110.For example, the core network can send paging message packets to thecore network communication component 306 for forwarding to the accesspoints 106, 108, or 110, without first receiving a request.

Upon receiving a downlink packet from the core network, the core networkcommunication component 306 can determine an access point associatedwith the downlink packet. This can be based on an identifier or contextin the downlink packet, which can be an identifier or context sent in arelated uplink packet by the core network communication component 306,as described. The downlink transmitting component 308 can associate theappropriate access point identifier with the downlink packet, ifdifferent from the identifier specified in the downlink packet from thecore network for example, and can provide the response to theconcentrator component 102. For example, the downlink transmittingcomponent 308 can insure that substantially all packets transmitted tothe concentrator component 102 have an associated access pointidentifier. As described, the concentrator component 102 can alsoreplace the identifier in the packet, for example, where the packetrelates to a mobile device served by the access point. The concentratorcomponent 102 can provide the downlink packet to the appropriate accesspoint 106, 108, and/or 110 based on the identifier, as describedpreviously.

The MME or access point 104 can support not only regular directtransport layer connections from access points, but also the transportlayer connection from the concentrator component 102. It is to beappreciated that the transport layer connection from the concentratorcomponent 102 can be different from conventional direct connections withaccess points in that the concentrator component 102 connection cansupport multiple application layer connections over the single transportlayer connection or association, as described.

Referring to FIG. 4, an example wireless communications system 400 isillustrated that multiplexes access point connections to an MME orupstream access point over a single transport layer connection. System400 includes a concentrator component 102 that can provide MME orupstream access point 104 access to a plurality of access points, suchas access point 106, as described. In particular, the access point 106can associate an identifier during setup and for employment in eachsubsequent packet transmission to the concentrator component 102. Asdescribed, this allows the concentrator component 102 to associatepackets to the access point 106 when transmitting to or receiving fromthe MME or access point 104. Where the MME or access point 104 sendsdownlink packets to the concentrator component 102, for example, theidentifier can be used in this regard as well to associate the downlinkpackets with the access point 106.

The access point 106 can comprise an identifier specification component402 that can generate or otherwise obtain an identifier to be utilizedin transmitting uplink packets to the concentrator component 102, aconnection request component 404 that can establish a connection withthe concentrator component 102, as described, an uplink transmissioncomponent 406 that can transmit uplink packets to the concentratorcomponent 102, a downlink receiving component 408 that can receivedownlink packets from the concentrator component 102, and a mobiledevice communication component 410 that can provide wireless networkaccess to one or more mobile devices (not shown).

According to an example, the concentrator component 102, as described,can establish a transport layer connection with the MME or access point104. As described, for example, the concentrator component 102 can betransparent to the access point 106, such that the access point 106functions as if it is connecting directly to the MME or upstream accesspoint 104. The identifier specification component 402 can generate orobtain an identifier related to the access point 106, for example, andthe connection request component 404 can formulate a request for accessto the MME or access point 104 specifying the identifier. The connectionrequest component 404 can transmit the request for access to theconcentrator component 102, which can store the identifier, and/or anassociation related to the identifier as described, and establish anapplication level connection with the MME or access point 104 related tothe access point 106.

The uplink transmission component 406 can provide uplink packets to theconcentrator component 102 and can specify the access point identifierfrom the identifier specification component 402 in each packet. Asdescribed, this allows the concentrator component 102 to identify theaccess point for subsequent transmission of the uplink packet to thecorresponding MME or access point 104 and to identify any responsesreceived from the MME or access point 104 related to the uplink packet.In an example, such a response can be received by the concentratorcomponent 102 in a downlink packet. As described, the concentratorcomponent 102 can determine the related access point 106 and forward thedownlink packet to the downlink receiving component 408. The downlinkreceiving component 408 can ensure the packet is appropriately deliveredbased on a variety of factors, including the identifier utilized,whether the packet contents is an acceptable or expected response to aprevious request, and/or the like.

In addition, the mobile device communication component 410 can providewireless network access to one or more mobile devices via the accesspoint 106. In this example, the mobile device communication component410 can receive uplink packets from the mobile device. The identifierspecification component 402 can assign an identifier to the mobiledevice, for example, which is locally unique to the access point 106.This assignment can occur on connection establishment with the mobiledevice, in one example. The uplink transmission component 406 cantransmit uplink packets to the concentrator component 102 along with theidentifier assigned to the mobile device by identifier specificationcomponent 402. In one example, the identifier for the mobile device canbe received in the uplink packet from the mobile device instead ofassigned by the identifier specification component 402. In either case,the identifier can be used in subsequent communications between themobile device and access point 106, as described.

In either case, the concentrator component 102 can create a locallyunique identifier based on the access point and mobile device identifierupon receiving the packet and can utilize the unique identifier insteadof original mobile device identifier in communicating with the MME oraccess point 104, as described. The concentrator component 102 can alsoreceive downlink packets from the MME or access point 104 related to themobile device and can forward these packets to the access point 106(e.g., based on the locally unique identifier) replacing the locallyunique identifier with the mobile device identifier originally presentedto the concentrator component 102. It is to be appreciated that theconcentrator component 102 can also use the access point identifier, ifpresent, to forward these downlink packets to the appropriate accesspoint. The downlink receiving component 408 can determine acorresponding mobile device for the downlink packet based on theidentifier, and the mobile device communication component 410 canforward the downlink packet to the mobile device, for example.

Now turning to FIG. 5, an example wireless communication network 500that utilizes a concentrator component to provide multiplexing foraccess points accessing an MME is illustrated. Network 500 can include amobile device 502 receiving network access from a eNB/home eNB (HeNB)504, which can refer to a small scale access point, such as a femtocellaccess point, picocell access point, relay node, etc., or a macrocellaccess point, in one example. The network access can be of substantiallyany specification, such as E-UTRA, UBM, WiMAX, etc. The HeNB 504, asdescribed, can communicate with the concentrator component 102 using anS1-MME interface on behalf of the mobile device 502 or otherwise, andcan accordingly provide access point and/or mobile device identifiers toallow the concentrator component 102 to track communications with theMME 104, using S1-MME interface, as described herein. The MME 104, asdescribed, can communicate with a core network.

The core network includes the various other components. For example, theMME 104 can communicate with a serving general packet radio service(GPRS) support node (SGSN) over an S3 specification to receive access toa UTRA network 508 and/or a GSM edge radio access network (GERAN) 510.MME 104 can connect to a home subscriber server (HSS) 512 over an S6aspecification, to get subscriber information, for example.

In another example, the eNB/HeNB 504 can communicate with a servinggateway (SGW) 514 over an S1-U interface to receive access to theinternet 518 and/or an IP multi subsystem (IMS) 520 and/or other IPsystems. In another example, the eNB/HeNB 504 can so connect via theconcentrator component 102, which communicates with the MME or eNB/HeNB104, as described. The MME 104 can establish connection with the SGW 514over an S11 interface, through the SGSN 506 using an S4 interface,and/or via the UTRA network 508 over an S12 interface. In any case, theSGW facilitates network access by communicating with a packet datanetwork (PDN) gateway (PGW) 516 over an S5/S8 interface, and the PGW 516can communicate directly with the internet 518 or IMS 520 using an SGiinterface, or via policy charging and rules function (PCRF) 522 over aGx interface. In the latter example, the PCRF 522 can communicate withthe IMS 520 over an Rx interface.

Now turning to FIG. 6, an example wireless communication network 600that utilizes a concentrator component to provide multiplexing foraccess points accessing a disparate access point is illustrated. Network600 can include a mobile device 502 receiving network access from aeNB/HeNB 504, which can refer to a small scale access point, such as afemtocell access point, picocell access point, relay node, etc., or amacrocell access point, in one example. The network access can be ofsubstantially any specification, such as E-UTRA, UBM, WiMAX, etc. TheHeNB 504, as described, can communicate with the concentrator component102 using an X2 interface on behalf of the mobile device 502 orotherwise, and can accordingly provide access point and/or mobile deviceidentifiers to allow the concentrator component 102 to trackcommunications with the eNB/HeNB 602, using X2 interface, as describedherein. The eNB/HeNB 602, as described, can communicate with an MME 104,over an S1-MME interface, which can communicate with a core network.

The core network includes the various other components. For example, theMME 104 can communicate with a serving general packet radio service(GPRS) support node (SGSN) over an S3 specification to receive access toa UTRA network 508 and/or a GSM edge radio access network (GERAN) 510.MME 104 can connect to a home subscriber server (HSS) 512 over an S6aspecification, to get subscriber information, for example.

In another example, the eNB/HeNB 504 can communicate with a servinggateway (SGW) 514 over an S1-U interface to receive access to theinternet 518 and/or an IP multi subsystem (IMS) 520 and/or other IPsystems. In another example, the eNB/HeNB 504 can so connect via theconcentrator component 102, which communicates with the eNB/HeNB 602, asdescribed. The eNB/HeNB 602 can connect to a related MME 104, which canestablish connection with the SGW 514 over an S11 interface, through theSGSN 506 using an S4 interface, and/or via the UTRA network 508 over anS12 interface. In any case, the SGW facilitates network access bycommunicating with a packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW) 516 over anS5/S8 interface, and the PGW 516 can communicate directly with theinternet 518 or IMS 520 using an SGi interface, or via policy chargingand rules function (PCRF) 522 over a Gx interface. In the latterexample, the PCRF 522 can communicate with the IMS 520 over an Rxinterface.

Referring to FIGS. 7-13, methodologies relating to facilitatingmultiplexing communications between access points and upstream accesspoints or MMEs are illustrated. While, for purposes of simplicity ofexplanation, the methodologies are shown and described as a series ofacts, it is to be understood and appreciated that the methodologies arenot limited by the order of acts, as some acts may, in accordance withone or more aspects, occur in different orders and/or concurrently withother acts from that shown and described herein. For example, thoseskilled in the art will understand and appreciate that a methodologycould alternatively be represented as a series of interrelated states orevents, such as in a state diagram. Moreover, not all illustrated actsmay be required to implement a methodology in accordance with one ormore aspects.

Turning to FIG. 7, an example methodology 700 that facilitates routingpackets between access points and upstream network components isillustrated. At 702, a downlink packet can be received from an upstreamnetwork component. In an example, the upstream network component can bean access point, MME, and/or the like. At 704, an access point relatedto the downlink packet can be determined based at least in part on anidentifier. As described, the identifier can be locally unique such thatthe identifier can have been generated and provided to the upstreamnetwork component for utilization in transmitting packets to be receivedfor the corresponding access point. In one example, the locally uniqueidentifier can be stored in a mapping with a received identifier so thatthe packet can be properly associated with the access point. In anexample, the identifier can relate to one of multiple connections fromthe access point and can be generated to identify one of theconnections. Though a generated identifier can be utilized, asdescribed, it is to be appreciated that the received identifier can beutilized in another example. At 706, the downlink packet can betransmitted to the access point.

Referring to FIG. 8, an example methodology 800 is shown thatfacilitates transmitting downlink packets to access points for receiptby corresponding mobile devices. At 802, a downlink packet can bereceived from an upstream network component. The downlink packet, asdescribed, can comprise a locally unique identifier previously generatedfor identifying packets related to an access point and mobile device. At804, an access point related to the downlink packet can be determinedbased at least in part on the identifier. This can be the locally uniqueidentifier, as described, which is associated with the access pointbased on a mapping of the locally unique identifier to an identifierreceived from the access point, the locally unique identifier comprisingthe received identifier, and/or the like. Similarly, at 806, a mobiledevice related to the downlink packet can be determined based at leastin part on the identifier. Thus, for example, a mapping can match thelocally unique identifier to corresponding access point and mobiledevice identifiers, or such can be determined from the locally uniqueidentifier itself, as described. At 808, the identifier in the downlinkpacket can be replaced with the determined identifier of the mobiledevice, and the packet can be transmitted to the access point at 810.This, for example, allows the access point to provide the packet to thecorresponding mobile device providing seamless multiplexing of mobiledevice related packets from access points to upstream networkcomponents.

Turning to FIG. 9, an example methodology 900 that facilitates routingpackets between an upstream network component and one or more accesspoints is illustrated. At 902, an uplink packet is received from anaccess point. At 904, an upstream network component associated with theaccess point is determined. This can be determined, for example, basedon a mapping of the access point to the upstream network component,which can be initialized based on a previous setup request. In anotherexample, the uplink packet can specify an upstream network component. At906, the uplink packet can be transmitted to the upstream networkcomponent, as described.

Referring to FIG. 10, an example methodology 1000 is shown thatfacilitates transmitting uplink packets with generated locally uniqueidentifiers. At 1002, an uplink packet can be received from an accesspoint. As described, the packet can include a locally unique identifier.At 1004, an upstream network component associated with the access pointcan be determined. This can be from a previous indication, a mapping orrouting table storing identifiers of the access point and relatedupstream network component, and/or the like, as described. At 1006, amobile device related to the uplink packet can be determined based atleast in part on an identifier in the packet. A unique identifierrelated to the access point and the mobile device can be generated at1008. As described, the unique identifier can comprise the identifiersof the mobile device and the access point or can be related in a routingtable or similar association. At 1010, the mobile device identifier inthe packet can be replaced by the unique identifier, and the uplinkpacket can be transmitted to the upstream network component at 1012. Asdescribed in previous figures, subsequent packets can be received fromthe upstream network component with the unique identifier, and therelated access point and mobile device can be discovered based on theunique identifier.

Turning to FIG. 11, an example methodology 1100 that facilitatesimplementing paging for a plurality of connected access points isillustrated. At 1102, a page can be received from an MME where the pagecomprises a tracking area identifier. At 1104, one or more access pointsassociated with the page can be determined based on the tracking areaidentifier. As described, access points can register providing one ormore related tracking areas. This allows association of the access pointto the tracking area so when pages are transmitted, the access points ofthe tracking area can be determined and paged. Accordingly, at 1106, thepage can be transmitted to the one or more access points.

Referring to FIG. 12, an example methodology 1200 is shown thatfacilitates indicating access point identifiers in downlink messages. At1202, a unique identifier can be received in an uplink message relatedto an access point. At 1204, the unique identifier can be inserted insubstantially all related downlink messages to associate the messageswith the access point. Thus, a network component receiving the downlinkmessages can appropriately route the messages to an access point. At1206, the downlink message can be transmitted to the network component.In this regard, the network component can multiplex messages accordingto the different identifiers received.

Turning to FIG. 13, an example methodology 1300 that facilitatescommunicating messages to a network component with associatedidentifiers is illustrated. At 1302, a unique identifier can becommunicated in an application layer setup message to a networkcomponent. The unique identifier can relate to an access point and canbe provided to identify the access point in subsequent messages. Thus,at 1304, the unique identifier can be inserted in substantially allsubsequent messages. At 1306, the subsequent messages can be transmittedto the network component. Accordingly, as described, the networkcomponent, which can be a concentrator component, can identify theaccess point according to the unique identifier.

It will be appreciated that, in accordance with one or more aspectsdescribed herein, inferences can be made regarding generating and/orassociating unique identifiers with packets transmitted through aconcentrator component. As used herein, the term to “infer” or“inference” refers generally to the process of reasoning about orinferring states of the system, environment, and/or user from a set ofobservations as captured via events and/or data. Inference can beemployed to identify a specific context or action, or can generate aprobability distribution over states, for example. The inference can beprobabilistic—that is, the computation of a probability distributionover states of interest based on a consideration of data and events.Inference can also refer to techniques employed for composinghigher-level events from a set of events and/or data. Such inferenceresults in the construction of new events or actions from a set ofobserved events and/or stored event data, whether or not the events arecorrelated in close temporal proximity, and whether the events and datacome from one or several event and data sources.

Referring now to FIG. 14, a wireless communication system 1400 isillustrated in accordance with various embodiments presented herein.System 1400 comprises a base station 1402 that can include multipleantenna groups. For example, one antenna group can include antennas 1404and 1406, another group can comprise antennas 1408 and 1410, and anadditional group can include antennas 1412 and 1414. Two antennas areillustrated for each antenna group; however, more or fewer antennas canbe utilized for each group. Base station 1402 can additionally include atransmitter chain and a receiver chain, each of which can in turncomprise a plurality of components associated with signal transmissionand reception (e.g., processors, modulators, multiplexers, demodulators,demultiplexers, antennas, etc.), as will be appreciated by one skilledin the art.

Base station 1402 can communicate with one or more mobile devices suchas mobile device 1416 and mobile device 1422; however, it is to beappreciated that base station 1402 can communicate with substantiallyany number of mobile devices similar to mobile devices 1416 and 1422.Mobile devices 1416 and 1422 can be, for example, cellular phones, smartphones, laptops, handheld communication devices, handheld computingdevices, satellite radios, global positioning systems, PDAs, and/or anyother suitable device for communicating over wireless communicationsystem 1400. As depicted, mobile device 1416 is in communication withantennas 1412 and 1414, where antennas 1412 and 1414 transmitinformation to mobile device 1416 over a forward link 1418 and receiveinformation from mobile device 1416 over a reverse link 1420. Moreover,mobile device 1422 is in communication with antennas 1404 and 1406,where antennas 1404 and 1406 transmit information to mobile device 1422over a forward link 1424 and receive information from mobile device 1422over a reverse link 1426. In a frequency division duplex (FDD) system,forward link 1418 can utilize a different frequency band than that usedby reverse link 1420, and forward link 1424 can employ a differentfrequency band than that employed by reverse link 1426, for example.Further, in a time division duplex (TDD) system, forward link 1418 andreverse link 1420 can utilize a common frequency band and forward link1424 and reverse link 1426 can utilize a common frequency band.

Each group of antennas and/or the area in which they are designated tocommunicate can be referred to as a sector of base station 1402. Forexample, antenna groups can be designed to communicate to mobile devicesin a sector of the areas covered by base station 1402. In communicationover forward links 1418 and 1424, the transmitting antennas of basestation 1402 can utilize beamforming to improve signal-to-noise ratio offorward links 1418 and 1424 for mobile devices 1416 and 1422. Also,while base station 1402 utilizes beamforming to transmit to mobiledevices 1416 and 1422 scattered randomly through an associated coverage,mobile devices in neighboring cells can be subject to less interferenceas compared to a base station transmitting through a single antenna toall its mobile devices. Moreover, mobile devices 1416 and 1422 cancommunicate directly with one another using a peer-to-peer or ad hoctechnology (not shown).

According to an example, system 1400 can be a multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO) communication system. Further, system 1400 canutilize substantially any type of duplexing technique to dividecommunication channels (e.g., forward link, reverse link, . . . ) suchas FDD, FDM, TDD, TDM, CDM, and the like. In addition, communicationchannels can be orthogonalized to allow simultaneous communication withmultiple devices over the channels; in one example, OFDM can be utilizedin this regard. Thus, the channels can be divided into portions offrequency over a period of time. In addition, frames can be defined asthe portions of frequency over a collection of time periods; thus, forexample, a frame can comprise a number of OFDM symbols. The base station1402 can communicate to the mobile devices 1416 and 1422 over thechannels, which can be create for various types of data. For example,channels can be created for communicating various types of generalcommunication data, control data (e.g. quality information for otherchannels, acknowledgement indicators for data received over channels,interference information, reference signals, etc.), and/or the like.

Now referring to FIG. 15, a wireless communication system 1500configured to support a number of mobile devices is illustrated. Thesystem 1500 provides communication for multiple cells, such as forexample, macrocells 1502A-1502G, with each cell being serviced by acorresponding access point 1504A-1504G. As described previously, forinstance, the access points 1504A-1504G related to the macrocells1502A-1502G can be base stations. Mobile devices 1506A-1506I are showndispersed at various locations throughout the wireless communicationsystem 1500. Each mobile device 1506A-1506I can communicate with one ormore access points 1504A-1504G on a forward link and/or a reverse link,as described. In addition, access points 1508A-1508D are shown. Thesecan be small scale access points, such as femtocell access points,picocell access points, relay nodes, mobile base stations, and/or thelike, offering services related to a particular service location, asdescribed. The mobile devices 1506A-1506I can additionally oralternatively communicate with these small scale access points1508A-1508D to receive offered services. The wireless communicationsystem 1500 can provide service over a large geographic region, in oneexample (e.g., macrocells 1502A-1502G can cover a few blocks in aneighborhood, and the small scale access points 1508A-1508D can bepresent in areas such as residences, office buildings, and/or the likeas described). In an example, the mobile devices 1506A-1506I canestablish connection with the access points 1504A-1504G and/or1508A-1508D over the air and/or over a backhaul connection.

According to an example, mobile devices 1506A-1506I can travelthroughout the wireless network and reselect cells provided by thevarious access points 1504A-1504G and 1508A-1508D. Cell reselection orhandover can be performed for a variety of reasons, such as proximity toa target access point, services offered by a target access point,protocols or standards supported by a target access point, favorablebilling associated with a target access point, etc. In an example,mobile device 1506D can communicate with access point 1504D and caninitiate cell reselection or handover to small scale access point 1508Cwhen within a specified proximity or measured signal strength thereof.To facilitate reselecting small scale access point 1508C, the sourceaccess point 1504D can transmit information to the target small scaleaccess point 1508C regarding the mobile device 1506D, such as a contextor other information relevant to continuing communications therewith.Thus, the target small scale access point 1508C can provide wirelessnetwork access to the mobile device 1506D based on the contextualinformation to facilitate seamless reselection from the access point1504D. In this example, an MME or upstream access point (not shown) canfacilitate the handover where the access points 1508C and 1504D areconnected thereto

FIG. 16 shows an example wireless communication system 1600. Thewireless communication system 1600 depicts one base station 1610 and onemobile device 1650 for sake of brevity. However, it is to be appreciatedthat system 1600 can include more than one base station and/or more thanone mobile device, wherein additional base stations and/or mobiledevices can be substantially similar or different from example basestation 1610 and mobile device 1650 described below. In addition, it isto be appreciated that base station 1610 and/or mobile device 1650 canemploy the systems (FIGS. 1-6 and 14-15) and/or methods (FIGS. 7-13)described herein to facilitate wireless communication therebetween.

At base station 1610, traffic data for a number of data streams isprovided from a data source 1612 to a transmit (TX) data processor 1614.According to an example, each data stream can be transmitted over arespective antenna. TX data processor 1614 formats, codes, andinterleaves the traffic data stream based on a particular coding schemeselected for that data stream to provide coded data.

The coded data for each data stream can be multiplexed with pilot datausing orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) techniques.Additionally or alternatively, the pilot symbols can be frequencydivision multiplexed (FDM), time division multiplexed (TDM), or codedivision multiplexed (CDM). The pilot data is typically a known datapattern that is processed in a known manner and can be used at mobiledevice 1650 to estimate channel response. The multiplexed pilot andcoded data for each data stream can be modulated (e.g., symbol mapped)based on a particular modulation scheme (e.g., binary phase-shift keying(BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), M-phase-shift keying(M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM), etc.) selected forthat data stream to provide modulation symbols. The data rate, coding,and modulation for each data stream can be determined by instructionsperformed or provided by processor 1630.

The modulation symbols for the data streams can be provided to a TX MIMOprocessor 1620, which can further process the modulation symbols (e.g.,for OFDM). TX MIMO processor 1620 then provides N_(T) modulation symbolstreams to N_(T) transmitters (TMTR) 1622 a through 1622 t. In variousaspects, TX MIMO processor 1620 applies beamforming weights to thesymbols of the data streams and to the antenna from which the symbol isbeing transmitted.

Each transmitter 1622 receives and processes a respective symbol streamto provide one or more analog signals, and further conditions (e.g.,amplifies, filters, and upconverts) the analog signals to provide amodulated signal suitable for transmission over the MIMO channel.Further, N_(T) modulated signals from transmitters 1622 a through 1622 tare transmitted from N_(T) antennas 1624 a through 1624 t, respectively.

At mobile device 1650, the transmitted modulated signals are received byN_(R) antennas 1652 a through 1652 r and the received signal from eachantenna 1652 is provided to a respective receiver (RCVR) 1654 a through1654 r. Each receiver 1654 conditions (e.g., filters, amplifies, anddownconverts) a respective signal, digitizes the conditioned signal toprovide samples, and further processes the samples to provide acorresponding “received” symbol stream.

An RX data processor 1660 can receive and process the N_(R) receivedsymbol streams from N_(R) receivers 1654 based on a particular receiverprocessing technique to provide N_(T) “detected” symbol streams. RX dataprocessor 1660 can demodulate, deinterleave, and decode each detectedsymbol stream to recover the traffic data for the data stream. Theprocessing by RX data processor 1660 is complementary to that performedby TX MIMO processor 1620 and TX data processor 1614 at base station1610.

A processor 1670 can periodically determine which preceding matrix toutilize as discussed above. Further, processor 1670 can formulate areverse link message comprising a matrix index portion and a rank valueportion.

The reverse link message can comprise various types of informationregarding the communication link and/or the received data stream. Thereverse link message can be processed by a TX data processor 1638, whichalso receives traffic data for a number of data streams from a datasource 1636, modulated by a modulator 1680, conditioned by transmitters1654 a through 1654 r, and transmitted back to base station 1610.

At base station 1610, the modulated signals from mobile device 1650 arereceived by antennas 1624, conditioned by receivers 1622, demodulated bya demodulator 1640, and processed by a RX data processor 1642 to extractthe reverse link message transmitted by mobile device 1650. Further,processor 1630 can process the extracted message to determine whichpreceding matrix to use for determining the beamforming weights.

Processors 1630 and 1670 can direct (e.g., control, coordinate, manage,etc.) operation at base station 1610 and mobile device 1650,respectively. Respective processors 1630 and 1670 can be associated withmemory 1632 and 1672 that store program codes and data. Processors 1630and 1670 can also perform computations to derive frequency and impulseresponse estimates for the uplink and downlink, respectively.

It is to be understood that the aspects described herein can beimplemented in hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, orany combination thereof For a hardware implementation, the processingunits can be implemented within one or more application specificintegrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digitalsignal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs),field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers,micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed toperform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof.

When the aspects are implemented in software, firmware, middleware ormicrocode, program code or code segments, they can be stored in amachine-readable medium, such as a storage component. A code segment canrepresent a procedure, a function, a subprogram, a program, a routine, asubroutine, a module, a software package, a class, or any combination ofinstructions, data structures, or program statements. A code segment canbe coupled to another code segment or a hardware circuit by passingand/or receiving information, data, arguments, parameters, or memorycontents. Information, arguments, parameters, data, etc. can be passed,forwarded, or transmitted using any suitable means including memorysharing, message passing, token passing, network transmission, etc.

For a software implementation, the techniques described herein can beimplemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) thatperform the functions described herein. The software codes can be storedin memory units and executed by processors. The memory unit can beimplemented within the processor or external to the processor, in whichcase it can be communicatively coupled to the processor via variousmeans as is known in the art.

With reference to FIG. 17, illustrated is a system 1700 that facilitatesmultiplexing access point communication with an MME. For example, system1700 can reside at least partially within a base station, mobile device,etc. It is to be appreciated that system 1700 is represented asincluding functional blocks, which can be functional blocks thatrepresent functions implemented by a processor, software, or combinationthereof (e.g., firmware). System 1700 includes a logical grouping 1702of electrical components that can act in conjunction. For instance,logical grouping 1702 can include an electrical component for receivinga downlink packet from an MME 1704. For example, as described, thedownlink packet can have an associated identifier and can be in responseto an uplink packet transmitted on behalf of an access point related tothe identifier, for example. In addition, logical grouping 1702 caninclude an electrical component for determining an access point relatedto the downlink packet based at least in part on a locally uniqueidentifier comprised within the downlink packet 1706.

Thus, as described, this can be based on a stored mapping of accesspoint identifiers to locally unique identifiers, based on identifyingthe access point identifier within the locally unique identifier, and/orthe like. Moreover, logical grouping 1702 can include an electricalcomponent for transmitting the downlink packet to the access point 1708.In addition, logical grouping 1702 can include an electrical componentfor determining a mobile device related to the downlink packet based atleast in part on the locally unique identifier 1710. Similarly, themobile device identifier can be determined from a mapping, indication inthe locally unique identifier, and/or the like. Furthermore, logicalgrouping 1702 can include an electrical component for extracting amobile device identifier and an access point identifier from the uplinkpacket and determining the locally unique identifier as related to themobile device identifier and the access point identifier 1712. Thesystem 1700, though not shown, can also generate the locally uniqueidentifier based on a received uplink packet; thus, the system 1700 candetermine the access point and/or mobile device related to theidentifier based on previously generating the associated locally uniqueidentifier. Additionally, system 1700 can include a memory 1714 thatretains instructions for executing functions associated with electricalcomponents 1704, 1706, 1708, 1710, and 1712. While shown as beingexternal to memory 1714, it is to be understood that one or more ofelectrical components 1704, 1706, 1708, 1710 and 1712 can exist withinmemory 1714.

With reference to FIG. 18, illustrated is a system 1800 that facilitatesmultiplexing access point communication with an upstream access point.For example, system 1800 can reside at least partially within a basestation, mobile device, etc. It is to be appreciated that system 1800 isrepresented as including functional blocks, which can be functionalblocks that represent functions implemented by a processor, software, orcombination thereof (e.g., firmware). System 1800 includes a logicalgrouping 1802 of electrical components that can act in conjunction. Forinstance, logical grouping 1802 can include an electrical component forextracting a locally unique identifier from a downlink packet receivedfrom an upstream access point 1804. For example, as described, thedownlink packet can have an associated identifier and can be received inresponse to an uplink packet transmitted on behalf of an access pointrelated to the identifier, for example. In addition, logical grouping1802 can include an electrical component for determining a mobile deviceidentifier related to the locally unique identifier and replacing thelocally unique identifier in the downlink packet with the mobile deviceidentifier 1806.

Moreover, logical grouping 1802 can include an electrical component fordetermining a downstream access point identifier related to the locallyunique identifier 1808. In addition, logical grouping 1802 can includean electrical component for transmitting the downlink packet to adownstream access point related to the downstream access pointidentifier 1810. Thus, as described, the downstream access pointreceives the packet with the mobile device identifier, which can be thesame as an identifier used to transmit a related uplink packet to thesystem 1802, as described herein. Additionally, system 1800 can includea memory 1812 that retains instructions for executing functionsassociated with electrical components 1804, 1806, 1808, and 1810. Whileshown as being external to memory 1812, it is to be understood that oneor more of electrical components 1804, 1806, 1808, and 1810 can existwithin memory 1812.

With reference to FIG. 19, illustrated is a system 1900 that implementspaging for multiple access points communicating with a concentrator toreceive MME access. For example, system 1900 can reside at leastpartially within a base station, mobile device, etc. It is to beappreciated that system 1900 is represented as including functionalblocks, which can be functional blocks that represent functionsimplemented by a processor, software, or combination thereof (e.g.,firmware). System 1900 includes a logical grouping 1902 of electricalcomponents that can act in conjunction. For instance, logical grouping1902 can include an electrical component for receiving a page from anMME comprising a tracking area identifier 1904. Furthermore, logicalgrouping 1902 can include an electrical component for determining one ormore access points associated with the tracking area identifier based atleast in part on a stored mapping of access points to tracking areaidentifiers 1906.

As described, access points can register with the system 1900 specifyingtracking area identifiers, which can be stored in association with theaccess point in a map or routing table. Moreover, logical grouping 1902can include an electrical component for transmitting the page to the oneor more access points 1908. Additionally, system 1900 can include amemory 1910 that retains instructions for executing functions associatedwith electrical components 1904, 1906, and 1908. While shown as beingexternal to memory 1910, it is to be understood that one or more ofelectrical components 1904, 1906, and 1908 can exist within memory 1910.

With reference to FIG. 20, illustrated is a system 2000 that insertsaccess point identifiers in downlink messages to facilitate multiplexingaccess point communication. For example, system 2000 can reside at leastpartially within a base station, mobile device, etc. It is to beappreciated that system 2000 is represented as including functionalblocks, which can be functional blocks that represent functionsimplemented by a processor, software, or combination thereof (e.g.,firmware). System 2000 includes a logical grouping 2002 of electricalcomponents that can act in conjunction. For instance, logical grouping2002 can include an electrical component for receiving a uniqueidentifier in an uplink message related to an access point 2004. Forexample, as described, the identifier can be utilized to identify thesource of the message as well as to associate the access point with acorresponding downlink message. In addition, logical grouping 2002 caninclude an electrical component for inserting the unique identifier inan application layer downlink message to facilitate determining theaccess point related to the uplink message and transmitting theapplication layer downlink message to a network component 2006. Thenetwork component, as described, can determine the appropriate accesspoint for forwarding the message based on the identifier. Additionally,system 2000 can include a memory 2008 that retains instructions forexecuting functions associated with electrical components 2004 and 2006.While shown as being external to memory 2008, it is to be understoodthat one or more of electrical components 2004 and 2006 can exist withinmemory 2008.

With reference to FIG. 21, illustrated is a system 2100 that receivesmessages from upstream network components via a concentrator. Forexample, system 2100 can reside at least partially within a basestation, MME, mobile device, etc. It is to be appreciated that system2100 is represented as including functional blocks, which can befunctional blocks that represent functions implemented by a processor,software, or combination thereof (e.g., firmware). System 2100 includesa logical grouping 2102 of electrical components that can act inconjunction. For instance, logical grouping 2102 can include anelectrical component for inserting a unique identifier in an applicationlayer connection setup message and substantially all correspondinguplink messages to facilitate determining an access point related to theuplink messages 2104. Furthermore, logical grouping 2102 can include anelectrical component for transmitting the uplink messages to a networkcomponent 2106.

Thus, the network component can identify the access point transmittingthe messages, as described. In addition, the uplink messages cancomprise a mobile device identifier where applicable. Moreover, logicalgrouping 2102 can include an electrical component for receiving one ormore downlink messages in response to the uplink messages 2108. Asdescribed, the downlink messages can comprise the mobile deviceidentifier. Furthermore, logical grouping 2102 can includes anelectrical component for forwarding the downlink messages to one or moremobile devices based at least in part on a disparate identifier in thedownlink messages 2110. Additionally, system 2100 can include a memory2112 that retains instructions for executing functions associated withelectrical components 2104, 2106, 2108 and 2110. While shown as beingexternal to memory 2112, it is to be understood that one or more ofelectrical components 2104, 2106, 2108, and 2110 can exist within memory2112.

The various illustrative logics, logical blocks, modules, and circuitsdescribed in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may beimplemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digitalsignal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit(ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmablelogic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardwarecomponents, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functionsdescribed herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor,but, in the alternative, the processor may be any conventionalprocessor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processormay also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., acombination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality ofmicroprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSPcore, or any other such configuration. Additionally, at least oneprocessor may comprise one or more modules operable to perform one ormore of the steps and/or actions described above.

Further, the steps and/or actions of a method or algorithm described inconnection with the aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly inhardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in acombination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory,flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, a harddisk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage mediumknown in the art. An exemplary storage medium may be coupled to theprocessor, such that the processor can read information from, and writeinformation to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storagemedium may be integral to the processor. Further, in some aspects, theprocessor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. Additionally,the ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In the alternative, theprocessor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in auser terminal. Additionally, in some aspects, the steps and/or actionsof a method or algorithm may reside as one or any combination or set ofcodes and/or instructions on a machine readable medium and/or computerreadable medium, which may be incorporated into a computer programproduct.

In one or more aspects, the functions described may be implemented inhardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implementedin software, the functions may be stored or transmitted as one or moreinstructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readablemedia includes both computer storage media and communication mediaincluding any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer programfrom one place to another. A storage medium may be any available mediathat can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and notlimitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM,CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or othermagnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carryor store desired program code in the form of instructions or datastructures and that can be accessed by a computer. Also, any connectionmay be termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if software istransmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using acoaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line(DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave,then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, orwireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave areincluded in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein,includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatiledisc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproducedata magnetically, while discs usually reproduce data optically withlasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within thescope of computer-readable media.

While the foregoing disclosure discusses illustrative aspects and/orembodiments, it should be noted that various changes and modificationscould be made herein without departing from the scope of the describedaspects and/or embodiments as defined by the appended claims.Furthermore, although elements of the described aspects and/orembodiments may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural iscontemplated unless limitation to the singular is explicitly stated.Additionally, all or a portion of any aspect and/or embodiment may beutilized with all or a portion of any other aspect and/or embodiment,unless stated otherwise. Furthermore, to the extent that the term“includes” is used in either the detailed description or the claims,such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term“comprising” as “comprising” is interpreted when employed as atransitional word in a claim. Furthermore, although elements of thedescribed aspects and/or aspects may be described or claimed in thesingular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation to the singularis explicitly stated. Additionally, all or a portion of any aspectand/or embodiment may be utilized with all or a portion of any otheraspect and/or embodiment, unless stated otherwise.

1. A method, comprising: receiving a downlink packet from a mobilitymanagement entity (MME); determining an access point related to thedownlink packet based at least in part on a locally unique identifiercomprised within the downlink packet; and transmitting the downlinkpacket to the access point.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thelocally unique identifier relates to an identifier received from theaccess point during connection establishment.
 3. The method of claim 1,further comprising: determining a mobile device related to the downlinkpacket based at least in part on the locally unique identifier; andreplacing the locally unique identifier with an identifier of the mobiledevice.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising storing the locallyunique identifier in a routing table with the identifier of the mobiledevice and an identifier of the access point.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving an uplink packet from the access point;determining an association between the uplink packet and the MME basedat least in part on an MME identifier; and transmitting the uplinkpacket to the MME.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the uplink packetis associated with the MME based at least in part on an address overwhich the uplink packet is received from the access point.
 7. The methodof claim 5, further comprising maintaining a routing table of accesspoint identifiers to MME identifiers, wherein the association betweenthe uplink packet and the MME is determined based at least in part on arouting table entry related to the access point.
 8. The method of claim7, wherein the access point identifiers relate to small scale accesspoints.
 9. The method of claim 7, further comprising adding an entry tothe routing table based at least in part on a request received from theaccess point for association with the MME.
 10. The method of claim 5,further comprising: extracting a mobile device identifier and an accesspoint identifier from the uplink packet; determining the locally uniqueidentifier as related to the mobile device identifier and the accesspoint identifier; and replacing the mobile device identifier in theuplink packet with the locally unique identifier.
 11. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the mobile device identifier and the access pointidentifier are application level identifiers.
 12. The method of claim10, wherein determining the locally unique identifier as related to themobile device identifier and the access point identifier includeslocating the locally unique identifier in a routing table that mapslocally unique identifiers to received mobile device identifiers andserving access point identifiers.
 13. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising establishing a transport layer connection with the MME. 14.The method of claim 13, further comprising establishing applicationlayer connections with the MME over the transport layer connection forthe access point or additional access points associated with the MME.15. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a handoverrequest message related to a target access point from a source accesspoint; determining that the source access point and the target accesspoint are associated with the MME based at least in part on one or moreidentifiers in the handover request message; and transmitting thehandover request message to the target access point.
 16. A wirelesscommunications apparatus, comprising: at least one processor configuredto: obtain a downlink packet from a mobility management entity (MME);discern at least one access point related to the downlink packet basedat least in part on a locally unique identifier comprised within thedownlink packet; and transmit the downlink packet to the at least oneaccess point; and a memory coupled to the at least one processor. 17.The wireless communications apparatus of claim 16, wherein the at leastone processor is further configured to receive an access pointidentifier from the at least one access point during connectionestablishment and the locally unique identifier relates to the accesspoint identifier.
 18. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 16,wherein the at least one processor is further configured to discern amobile device related to the downlink packet based at least in part onthe locally unique identifier and replace the locally unique identifierwith an identifier of the mobile device.
 19. The wireless communicationsapparatus of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to: obtain an uplink packet from the at least one accesspoint; discern an association between the uplink packet and the MMEbased at least in part on an MME identifier; and transmit the uplinkpacket to the MME.
 20. The wireless communications apparatus of claim19, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to maintaina routing table of access point identifiers to MME identifiers, whereinthe association between the uplink packet and the MME is discerned basedat least in part on a routing table entry related to the at least oneaccess point.
 21. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 20,wherein the at least one processor is further configured to insert anentry to the routing table based at least in part on a request receivedfrom the at least one access point for association with the MME.
 22. Thewireless communications apparatus of claim 19, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to: discern a mobile device identifierand an access point identifier from the uplink packet; generate thelocally unique identifier as related to the mobile device identifier andthe access point identifier; and replace the mobile device identifier inthe uplink packet with the locally unique identifier.
 23. An apparatus,comprising: means for receiving a downlink packet from a mobilitymanagement entity (MME); means for determining an access point relatedto the downlink packet based at least in part on a locally uniqueidentifier comprised within the downlink packet; and means fortransmitting the downlink packet to the access point.
 24. The apparatusof claim 23, wherein the locally unique identifier relates to anidentifier received from the access point during connectionestablishment.
 25. The apparatus of claim 23, further comprising meansfor determining a mobile device related to the downlink packet based atleast in part on the locally unique identifier, wherein the means fortransmitting the downlink packet replaces the locally unique identifierwith an identifier of the mobile device.
 26. The apparatus of claim 25,wherein the means for determining the mobile device related to thedownlink packet stores the locally unique identifier in a routing tablewith the identifier of the mobile device and an identifier of the accesspoint.
 27. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the means for transmittingthe downlink packet further receives an uplink packet from the accesspoint and the means for receiving the downlink packet further transmitsthe uplink packet to the MME, wherein the means for determining theaccess point related to the downlink packet additionally determines anassociation between the uplink packet and the MME based at least in parton an MME identifier.
 28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the uplinkpacket is associated with the MME based at least in part on an addressover which the uplink packet is received.
 29. The apparatus of claim 27,wherein the means for determining the access point related to thedownlink packet further maintains a routing table of access pointidentifiers to MME identifiers, wherein the association between theuplink packet and the MME is determined based at least in part on arouting table entry related to the access point.
 30. The apparatus ofclaim 29, wherein the means for determining the access point related tothe downlink packet adds an entry to the routing table based at least inpart on a request received from the access point for association withthe MME.
 31. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising means forextracting a mobile device identifier and an access point identifierfrom the uplink packet and determining the locally unique identifier asrelated to the mobile device identifier and the access point identifier,wherein the means for transmitting the uplink packet to the MME replacesthe mobile device identifier in the uplink packet with the locallyunique identifier.
 32. A computer program product, comprising: acomputer-readable medium comprising: code for causing at least onecomputer to receive a downlink packet from a mobility management entity(MME); code for causing the at least one computer to determine an accesspoint related to the downlink packet based at least in part on a locallyunique identifier comprised within the downlink packet; and code forcausing the at least one computer to transmit the downlink packet to theaccess point.
 33. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein thecomputer-readable medium further comprises code for causing the at leastone computer to receive an access point identifier from the access pointduring connection establishment and the locally unique identifierrelates to the access point.
 34. The computer program product of claim32, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises code forcausing the at least one computer to determine a mobile device relatedto the downlink packet based at least in part on the locally uniqueidentifier and replace the locally unique identifier with an identifierof the mobile device.
 35. The computer program product of claim 32,wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises: code for causingthe at least one computer to receive an uplink packet from the accesspoint; code for causing the at least one computer to determine anassociation between the uplink packet and the MME based at least in parton an MME identifier; and code for causing the at least one computer totransmit the uplink packet to the MME.
 36. The computer program productof claim 35, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises codefor causing the at least one computer to maintain a routing table ofaccess point identifiers to MME identifiers, wherein the associationbetween the uplink packet and the MME is determined based at least inpart on a routing table entry related to the access point.
 37. Thecomputer program product of claim 36, wherein the computer-readablemedium further comprises code for causing the at least one computer toinsert an entry to the routing table based at least in part on a requestreceived from the access point for association with the MME.
 38. Thecomputer program product of claim 35, wherein the computer-readablemedium further comprises: code for causing the at least one computer todetermine a mobile device identifier and an access point identifier fromthe uplink packet; code for causing the at least one computer to selectthe locally unique identifier as related to the mobile device identifierand the access point identifier; and code for causing the at least onecomputer to replace the mobile device identifier in the uplink packetwith the locally unique identifier.
 39. An apparatus, comprising: anupstream connection component that receives a downlink packet from amobility management entity (MME); an access point routing component thatdetermines an access point related to the downlink packet based at leastin part on a locally unique identifier comprised within the downlinkpacket; and a downstream connection component that transmits thedownlink packet to the access point.
 40. The apparatus of claim 39,wherein the locally unique identifier relates to an identifier receivedfrom the access point during connection establishment.
 41. The apparatusof claim 39, further comprising a mobile device routing component thatdetermines a mobile device related to the downlink packet based at leastin part on the locally unique identifier, wherein the downstreamconnection component replaces the locally unique identifier with anidentifier of the mobile device.
 42. The apparatus of claim 41, whereinthe mobile device routing component stores the locally unique identifierin a routing table with the identifier of the mobile device and anidentifier of the access point.
 43. The apparatus of claim 39 whereinthe downstream connection component receives an uplink packet from theaccess point and the upstream connection component transmits the uplinkpacket to the MME and the access point routing component additionallydetermines an association between the uplink packet and the MME based atleast in part on an MME identifier.
 44. The apparatus of claim 43,wherein the uplink packet is associated with the MME based at least inpart on an address over which the uplink packet is received.
 45. Theapparatus of claim 43, wherein the access point routing componentfurther maintains a routing table of access point identifiers to MMEidentifiers and the association between the uplink packet and the MME isdetermined based at least in part on a routing table entry related tothe access point.
 46. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the accesspoint routing component adds an entry to the routing table based atleast in part on a request received from the access point forassociation with the MME.
 47. A method, comprising: receiving a uniqueidentifier in an uplink message related to an access point; insertingthe unique identifier in an application layer downlink message tofacilitate determining the access point related to the uplink message;and transmitting the application layer downlink message to a networkcomponent.
 48. The method of claim 47, wherein the unique identifier isglobally unique to a wireless communications network.
 49. The method ofclaim 48, further comprising including the unique identifier insubstantially all subsequent application layer downlink messages relatedto the access point transmitted to the network component.
 50. The methodof claim 47, further comprising multiplexing the application layerdownlink message with disparate application layer downlink messagesrelated to disparate access points over a single transport layerassociation to the network component.
 51. The method of claim 47,further comprising receiving a handover request message from the networkcomponent related to the access point and a target access point.
 52. Themethod of claim 51, further comprising: inserting a unique identifierrelated to the target access point in the handover request message; andforwarding the handover request message to the network component or oneor more disparate network components.
 53. A wireless communicationsapparatus, comprising: at least one processor configured to: retrieve aunique identifier in an uplink message related to an access point;insert the unique identifier in an application layer downlink message tofacilitate determining the access point related to the uplink message;and transmit the application layer downlink message to a networkcomponent; and a memory coupled to the at least one processor.
 54. Thewireless communications apparatus of claim 53, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to include the unique identifier insubstantially all subsequent application layer downlink messages relatedto the access point transmitted to the network component.
 55. Thewireless communications apparatus of claim 53, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to multiplex the application layerdownlink message with disparate application layer downlink messagesrelated to disparate access points over a single transport layerassociation to the network component.
 56. An apparatus, comprising:means for receiving a unique identifier in an uplink message related toan access point; and means for inserting the unique identifier in anapplication layer downlink message to facilitate determining the accesspoint related to the uplink message and transmitting the applicationlayer downlink message to a network component.
 57. The apparatus ofclaim 56, wherein the unique identifier is globally unique to a wirelesscommunications network.
 58. The apparatus of claim 56, wherein the meansfor inserting the unique identifier includes the unique identifier insubstantially all subsequent application layer downlink messages relatedto the access point transmitted to the network component.
 59. A computerprogram product, comprising: a computer-readable medium comprising: codefor causing at least one computer to receive a unique identifier in anuplink message related to an access point; code for causing the at leastone computer to insert the unique identifier in an application layerdownlink message to facilitate determining the access point related tothe uplink message; and code for causing the at least one computer totransmit the application layer downlink message to a network component.60. The computer program product of claim 59, wherein thecomputer-readable medium further comprises code for causing the at leastone computer to include the unique identifier in substantially allsubsequent application layer downlink messages related to the accesspoint transmitted to the network component.
 61. An apparatus,comprising: an access point identifier component that receives a uniqueidentifier in an uplink message related to an access point; and adownlink transmitting component that inserts the unique identifier in anapplication layer downlink message to facilitate determining the accesspoint related to the uplink message and transmits the application layerdownlink message to a network component.
 62. The apparatus of claim 61,wherein the unique identifier is globally unique to a wirelesscommunications network.
 63. The apparatus of claim 61, wherein thedownlink transmitting component includes the unique identifier insubstantially all subsequent application layer downlink messages relatedto the access point transmitted to the network component.